How executives can retain CIO talent

How to keep a CIO happy in their work: Value the CIO, invest in training, offer feedback and praise

The competition for CIO talent remains a challenge for organisations today.

Organisations are developing new ways in which they can retain IT leaders in fulfilling their job role and staying loyal to the business.

Only a third of CIOs reported they have benefitted from an increase in base salary, according to recent research. Executives can create a strategy which will align the employee's needs and the business needs in order to keep their CIO happy in their work.

CIO UK shares its tips on how executives can retain their top IT talent and keep their CIO happy in their role.

How executives can retain CIO talent: Valuing the CIO

The CIO should be able to communicate with executives in sharing ideas about the technology they are currently developing in the business.

One-fifth of CIOs find digital disruption is down to digital innovations in the product and service delivery, according to Harvey Nash. Executives should value their CIO and include them in decisions when investing in future projects.

Organisations need to be open in having a platform for the CIO to voice their ideas. The collaborative approach can increase the creativity skills of the CIO in transforming the business.

The platform will make the CIO feel valued as an employee in taking control of their own path in the company's decision-making.

CIOs are all working towards the same shared goal with 35% of organisations having developed an enterprise-wide digital strategy, according to research.

CIO 100 2016 member Sharon Cooper at BMJ regulary raises awareness of her team and digital as a skill.

She said: "(Digital) is a skill that everyone should have at varying levels, bringing diverse teams together and sharing knowledge."

Cooper's role has lead to her hosting internal hack days which sees the business get creative in suggesting ideas.

She continued: "The hack day would be suggestions that would fix business problems, develop new products or improve existing products. Over the two days the development team worked with business colleagues to create working prototypes for seven of 60 ideas."

CIOs and fellow executives can build a relationship in aligning the technology and business strategy to the desired result. This will help any CIO to keep engaged.

How executives can retain CIO talent: Invest in digital training

The CIO is passionate about technology in wanting to expand their digital skills and experience.

As technology evolves so does the role of a CIO having a direct impact on the organisation. Businesses should invest in the latest tools and training programmes to increase the CIO's fulfillment in their job role.

The shape of technology is changing with one-tenth of CIOs reporting more than half of the digital spending is controlled outside of IT.